Looking for a book on the topic of teaching horseback riding lessons

[Peaches Lee]

Certified Horsemanship Association, or CHA sounds like a good bet for you. When you take the course you get lots of books with illustrations, exercise ideas, insurance recommendations etc. They teach you how to teach others in clear, concise, understandable ways in the form of "mock lessons" with other participants.

Good luck.

 

[TajMahalChickens]

Certified Horsemanship Association, or CHA sounds like a good bet for you. When you take the course you get lots of books with illustrations, exercise ideas, insurance recommendations etc. They teach you how to teach others in clear, concise, understandable ways in the form of "mock lessons" with other participants.

Good luck.

You said "when you take the course," co they have an online course or something?

Will the horse not respond to an unshanked bit?

Yes the horse will respond to a snaffle. The reason I use a curb bit is because I ride western and I am teaching her western, and western uses a curb (shank) bit. I am not using it for controll issues. When I ride, I just use my seat and legs for direction and stopping and I barely use my reins, so that proves that the horse doesn't need the bit for controll issues. I can ride him in a snaffle and I have before. Should I just teach her using a snaffle even though she is riding western?

Ok, how I do it personally is they are either on a longeing caveson with no bridle or a halter under a bridle with a lunge line attached to the O ring - not the side.

Ok, so you attach it to the O ring of the halter, with is the ring underneath the chin. Correct?

"So, IF I let her have access to the reins, how can I do that, if lunging with a shank bit is not recommended?"

I don't understand the question, I guess. I wouldn't put a kid on a horse that couldn't be ridden in a snaffle(ring) bit. I wouldn't want a beginner to have a curb bit, ever, of any kind. It's too easy for them to drop the reins and the horse step on them, or the kid loses his balance and yanks the mouth and the horse suffers.

What I mean is that if I want the reins to be on the neck or tied to the horn, so that the can use them if an emergency arises, BUT Lunging with a shank bit isn't supposed to be done/ is isn't considered safe, how can I have the reins on the neck with out having the shank bridle on?​

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
DEFINITELY, if you are longeing her; and almost certainly Yes even if you're not. (A curb is significantly more difficult to use correctly than a snaffle, for beginners, unless you are teaching them without any reins at all for a good long time at the outset and they learn to turn mainly off leg and seat cues, which virtually nobody does and anyhow see preceding discussion of liability issues).

I mean, why NOT teach her in a snaffle, since it enables her to direct-rein (which is often useful for beginners, especially if the horse is not a totally brilliant beginner horse)? She can still neck-rein in it just fine, you don't lose anything except "advanced" type functions of the bit which are utterly irrelevant to a beginner.

What I mean is that if I want the reins to be on the neck or tied to the horn, so that the can use them if an emergency arises, BUT Lunging with a shank bit isn't supposed to be done/ is isn't considered safe, how can I have the reins on the neck with out having the shank bridle on?

Snaffle.

GOod luck, have fun,

Pat​

 

[Bec]

Since everyone here has already given a ton of good advice, I would like to add a few fun things to do.
Keeping it fun is key to keeping kids interested. When I gave lessons my kids LOVED to play Simon Says. I would say "Simone Says walk" Simon says Stop" "Simon says back up 3 steps" And then throw in something that Simon didn't say every once in a while too. To work on balance I would do "Simon says raise your right hand in the air" 'Simon says put your arms out to the side like an airplane" "Simon says touch your helmet, touch your right knee, touch your horses head, touch your horses tail" That kind of thing. It was really fun, just make sure you have a horse that takes care of their rider! You definitely don't want them letting go and doing all these things if the horse is going to take off!! Another thing we would play is Red Light Green Light...Red = stop and obviously Green+ go. They liked that too. As they progress you can add more advanced games in, but the little ones love the games while they are learning.

If you want, I can copy and paste the waiver I used for my lessons. It covered every aspect.

 

[Peaches Lee]

Re: CHA courses

No, it is a one week course at a stable, you may have to travel, meals are usually provided. Check their website out for more info. Again good luck!!

 

[welsummerchicks]

"I'm riding western and in western you ride in a curb, I don't need it for control"

It sounds like you're gonna do what you do, but for others, here's the rationale: With a kid, the curb bit becomes something that gets caught on stuff, and it becomes something the kid occasionally yanks on and hurts the horse's mouth(I once actually found a kid climbing up one rein, with the poor sweet beginner horse standing stock still with her eyes bugging out, cut the snot out of the horse's mouth), or drops the rein, the horse steps on it....ow for the horse. Another time, the curb rein went under the stirrup, that was u-u-ugly.

Most western horses, unless their mouths have been hardeneded through bad training, will go back in a snaffle for a ride with a kid and be just fine. Then one has one less thing to go wrong.

Safety in teaching kids is about making things a habit, and just whittling away at the list of 'what can go wrong'.

 

[Rusty Hills Farm]

I can ride him in a snaffle and I have before. Should I just teach her using a snaffle even though she is riding western?

For whatever it is worth: I ride, train, and show cutting horses primarily. I start them in a snaffle and use it consistently throughout the training. With it I can direct rein AND neck rein. I only switch to the curb for competition. In fact I do believe my horses have learned over time that when the curb goes in, it means it is time to get serious, so they enter the arena hyped and really ready to compete.

When I am just out trail riding I use the snaffle. I wouldn't worry about using one as being somehow less "Western". Bits are just tools to help you communicate with your horse, so except in a show ring (where the show rules generally state what bit is required for a particular class), I'd just use whatever tool worked best for the situation and the horse.

HTH

Rusty​

 

[michickenwrangler]

My horse neck reins quite nicely in a snaffle

 

[RiverOtter]

Quote:
Ok, so you attach it to the O ring of the halter, with is the ring underneath the chin. Correct?

Yes, exactly. If you attach it at the side it pulls everything off-center.

And Simon Says is a GREAT game! Also, I do a pretty regular group lesson with 3 girls (10 to 12) and they LOVE Follow the Leader. I'll announce that someone is the leader and she can pick three things to do (for example; trot the short side, circle the barrel to the right, stop and back up 2 steps) and then they all get to do it.

 

[Chickerdoodle13]

I ride western and I almost always use a snaffle. I used to ride in a curb and I don't think I'd ever go back if I didn't have to. Snaffles are so much more versatile, and I feel I have much more contact with the mouth, even though it's a gentler bit. I have to agree with the others - even though you are gentle with the curb, a child will almost certainly not be all the time.

Honestly, accidents can happen with ANY bit and horses, as we all know, are accident prone. But I do think you'll have a happier lesson horse if you can switch to a snaffle now and introduce the curb when the child is ready to show. Like some other posters said, just because you use a snaffle it really won't affect the horse much when you go to ride in a curb later.

Just make sure your insurance is all set in place before starting any lessons and always make sure the kid is wearing a helmet. It helps for the child to get their own helmet to make sure it fits properly and now a days good helmets are $30 or less. Other than that, have fun! Sounds like the child will be a real beginner, so really you are just teaching balance and the basics. It really won't be too complicated until the child is ready to move on to some more advanced levels. My advice is to let the kid have lots of hands on time with the horse, even if it means spending a half hour or more grooming and tacking. They may grumble about it, but looking back I really learned the most during these "sessions"!